Katie Noble

PhD topic title: Understanding the Environmental Sustainability of Cultured Meat and its Emergence as a Post-Anthropocene Ecomodern Food Source

PhD supervisor(s): Dr Luisa Huatuco, Dr Alison Dyke and Dr Jonathan Green 

Biography and research

My PhD research analyses the potential environmental and sociocultural impacts of scaling-up cultured meat production systems globally. We have now modified almost every inch of Earth’s land surface to produce food, with over 75% of all agricultural land being used specifically for meat and milk production. Humanity’s taste for meat has driven the overexploitation of Earth’s finite natural resources to such an extent that we have created a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, inducing the current global biodiversity and climate crises, and critically endangering our ability to continue producing food. 

Growing meat in bioreactors, rather than on animals’ bodies, is a potential solution for meeting the ever-growing global demand for meat products whilst negating the environmental and animal welfare issues generated by our current meat production systems. With societal acceptance, cultured meat could be a very disruptive technology, potentially capable of entirely transforming global food systems. My research adopts a holistic and highly interdisciplinary approach to analysing the environmental and sociocultural dimensions of cultured meat, incorporating data, methods, and ideas from a range of academic disciplines in both the natural and social sciences. 

Through this research, I aim to generate knowledge useful to both industry stakeholders and policymakers regarding the optimisation of cultured meat production systems and supply chains for increased sustainability and social equity outcomes.

Funder

• The Leverhulme Trust